SRGilbert Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 So, the most modern system I own is a PS2, and I just picked it up this past year and have had fun with it. Now it seems that original X-boxes are cheap and plentifull and I'm trying to decide if it's worth my time to pick one up. I understand that they can be modded to use as emulator boxes, which is intriguing. What else can they do and how difficult is it to get started? Are there even better ways to accomplish the same thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtticGamer Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 A modern cheap PC will be better than a Xbox for emulation. Xbox has good games, some of them are available for PC but others are exclusive. Great conversion of Doom III and its expansion Resurrection of Evil, Street Fighter Anniversary, Tomb Raider Legend and if you like them, Dead or Alive, the 3 128-bit GTAs, Halo and Halo 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keilbaca Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 The biggest thing you can do with the xbox that makes it awesome being its so cheap, is to mod it and turn it into a media center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper_Eye Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 (edited) I disagree that the PC is better for emulation than the XBox. The XBox has great emulators that are all streamlined to have a familiar interface. I am not saying it is hugely better than using a PC but I would consider them equal at least. The XBox is useful for much more than emulation though. There is a lot of homebrew software and games out there and you can use it as a great media center. XBMC is a great media center software. It can also run Linux. Softmods are as functional as chip mods now so there is no need to open the unit or buy a chip. Once you have a game that can be exploited to install the mod with (Mech Assault, Splinter Cell, or 007: Agent Under Fire... original versions - no platinum hits) and the save on a memory card the mod only takes about 10 minutes from start to finish. Check out http://www.xbox-scene.com for all the information you could possibly want on modding XBox no matter the method you intend to use. The XBox is one of the best consoles there is once modded because it completely opens the thing up and allows you to utilize its immense capabilities. Edited January 2, 2009 by Hyper_Eye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cimerians Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 I disagree that the PC is better for emulation than the XBox. The XBox has great emulators that are all streamlined to have a familiar interface. I am not saying it is hugely better than using a PC but I would consider them equal at least. The XBox is useful for much more than emulation though. There is a lot of homebrew software and games out there and you can use it as a great media center. XBMC is a great media center software. It can also run Linux. Softmods are as functional as chip mods now so there is no need to open the unit or buy a chip. Once you have a game that can be exploited to install the mod with (Mech Assault, Splinter Cell, or 007: Agent Under Fire... original versions - no platinum hits) and the save on a memory card the mod only takes about 10 minutes from start to finish. Check out http://www.xbox-scene.com for all the information you could possibly want on modding XBox no matter the method you intend to use. The XBox is one of the best consoles there is once modded because it completely opens the thing up and allows you to utilize its immense capabilities. Yupper! I run everything on my Xbox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 A modern cheap PC will be better than a Xbox for emulation. Xbox has good games, some of them are available for PC but others are exclusive. Great conversion of Doom III and its expansion Resurrection of Evil, Street Fighter Anniversary, Tomb Raider Legend and if you like them, Dead or Alive, the 3 128-bit GTAs, Halo and Halo 2. You can't compare a PC to an xbox (or any console from this point that can do it) for emulation. You can drag and drop an xbox easily to any tv in the house or at grandma's, and be playing multiple console games with a pad within seconds. That's pretty hard to do with a PC (albeit possible). The convenience factor is one thing but the cost factor is another. You can easily buy any used xbox these days for a song. Heck, I got 11 of them. Anyway, the point of contrasting it is pretty much moot since since we generally all have PC's anyway and have emulators on them just as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artlover Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Ditto on emulation. Xbox does an excelent job that at worst is equal to the PC. And XBMC absolutly kicks ass. Those are the two biggest things I use mine for. I'd say my order of use is: #1 - XBMC #2 - Emulation #3 - Homebrew #4 - Linux server #5 - Gaming Can't overstate XBMC enough. Dash replacement, cheat manager, rss feeds, weather feed, streaming audio player, local/cd/dvd/lan based media player w/queue options, web broswer, FTP server, file manager. Audio & video playback is fully configurable on the fly in every way imaginable. Handles damn near all audio/video/picture formats. - Seriously, anyone with a Xbox who hasn't modded it and installed XBMC doesn't deserve to own one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 (edited) Upscale DVD's to 1080i when you have a component cable and HD ready TV XBMC Rip DVD's to HDD Rip CD's to HDD really easily Easy to use Emulators 32" Digital Picture frame slide show thing etc etc etc Edited January 2, 2009 by mimo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Upscale DVD's to 1080i when you have a component cable and HD ready TV It can do that? I have a bunch of xbox component cables.. what do you play your dvd's on. xbmc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper_Eye Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Upscale DVD's to 1080i when you have a component cable and HD ready TV It can do that? I have a bunch of xbox component cables.. what do you play your dvd's on. xbmc? XBMC will scale DVD's or any video content over component because they really don't give a crap about rules and such. Scaling over these cables is possible and so they do it. So you can scale DVD's with XBMC. I scale my DVD's to 720p with it (as well as watch all video content, streamed and otherwise, in 720p.) It does a really good job and DVD's look good. You can go into the XBMC settings and change the resolution from "auto" to your desired resolution. This will force it to scale content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RARusk Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 "XBMC will scale DVD's or any video content over component because they really don't give a crap about rules and such. Scaling over these cables is possible and so they do it. So you can scale DVD's with XBMC. I scale my DVD's to 720p with it (as well as watch all video content, streamed and otherwise, in 720p.) It does a really good job and DVD's look good. You can go into the XBMC settings and change the resolution from "auto" to your desired resolution. This will force it to scale content." Games too? And in RGB Analog? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Games too? And in RGB Analog? No on the games. And component is YCbCr, not RGB but yes both are analog signals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper_Eye Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 (edited) There are a couple of games that were hd. I have one or two of them and they look good. There weren't many though. Most were sports games but there were a few that weren't like Dragon's Lair (480p, 720p, 1080i) and True Crime. You can see the list of HD games here: http://www.hdtvarcade.com/hdtvforum/index....&page=xboxa You can also set the various emulators on XBox to output in HD. I have them set to output in 720p and they look great. Edited January 3, 2009 by Hyper_Eye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 An expensive paperweight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper_Eye Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 An expensive paperweight. Thanks for the great and thoughtful insight. You exhibit great knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRGilbert Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 Thanks for all the replys. I'm still on the lookout for a cheap one, still kicking myself for passing up one for $30 at a yard sale last summer. I think that more than anything I'm looking to use it as an emulator box. Not sure yet how I'll go about modding it though. The soft mod doesn't look too complex, but it looks like I'll have to make my own Action Replay type adapter as I'm too cheap to spend the money on one. I'm also going to check around the area to see if anyone does it for a fee. I'd like to update the hard drive too, and that looks a little more complicated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 So, the most modern system I own is a PS2, and I just picked it up this past year and have had fun with it. Now it seems that original X-boxes are cheap and plentifull and I'm trying to decide if it's worth my time to pick one up. I understand that they can be modded to use as emulator boxes, which is intriguing. What else can they do and how difficult is it to get started? Are there even better ways to accomplish the same thing? Mine is just being used as a dvd player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Imo, and I know a some will disagree the easiest way to mod an xbox if you want to install a big HDD is fit a mod chip. Pretty easy if you can hold a soldering iron the right way around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 still kicking myself for passing up one for $30 at a yard sale last summer. They're usually a little over 50 bucks at Gamestop used these days. Not too much over that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper_Eye Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Imo, and I know a some will disagree the easiest way to mod an xbox if you want to install a big HDD is fit a mod chip. Pretty easy if you can hold a soldering iron the right way around You don't even have to be able to do that. Solderless adapters make chip installation a cinch and free from worry about frying the thing. But it isn't that hard to do a softmod with a bigger hdd. It just takes some research and knowing what your doing. But I have a chip and can say that there is some benefit to it as you are not as dependent on the pieces of hardware that commonly fail for keeping your system from becoming a brick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 (edited) Are there any new ones still available? How reliable is the Xbox overall? Edited January 8, 2009 by Cobra Commander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper_Eye Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 (edited) Are there any new ones still available? How reliable is the Xbox overall? The only part the isn't very reliable is the original Thompson drive found in the V1 units. Mine lasted all the way until this year though. If you have any drive other than the Thompson then it shouldn't be a problem. The hdd's are as reliable as hdd's can be. It's a pretty solid console. Edited January 8, 2009 by Hyper_Eye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Are there any new ones still available? How reliable is the Xbox overall? Compared to the 360 the original Xbox is a tank...though thats not really saying that much The only thing that ever died on my old xbox was the dvd drive, which was easily replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Kai Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 You can play Steel Battalion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper_Eye Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 You can play Steel Battalion. Ding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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